One of the many integral parts to the creation and success of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is the music composed in collaboration by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, who worked together on Batman Begins. “Hans was very much singularly responsible for the Joker,” Howard stated. “I'm singularly responsible for Harvey Dent and the arc of that character and then everything else in between we would just collaborate on to various degrees.” Which they again do to great success.
Opening the album, “Why So Serious?” is a powerful nine-minute suite for The Joker. Based around the notes D and C, likely not a coincidence for a character from DC Comics, it grabs hold of the listener immediately with its intensity. The strings create the descent into this world. As we try and get our bearings, the strings’ quick tempo keeps us on edge. Ominous bass lines foreshadow an impending wave of percussion, reminiscent of something I would expect from Nine Inch Nails. A moment’s rest but then the music becomes a ticking bomb, which we know has to go off. The percussion hits hard. The cello and the bass get very aggressive, building dramatically, so we are thrown when everything goes quiet. There’s something playing softly in the background. The familiar, unnerving strings return. The pounding percussion reappears, playing longer this time. The suite repeats ideas but alters them. The music seems to be fading away, only to rise at the close, but in a much more subdued manner. Finally, what sounds like gun blasts ring out to conclude the piece.
The music melds in with the next track “I’m not A Hero,” the first of two pieces for Harvey Dent. It is very majestic, exhibiting Dent’s heroic nature that Gotham needs, more so than even Batman’s. Yet, all heroes have a conflict they must overcome to raise themselves to that status. During the middle segment of the piece, the orchestra struggles to be heard as some strange sound effect attempts to stifle it. A battle ensues, resulting in a marvelous climax.
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